Did authorities ignore these damning warnings in a report on the Kejetia Market?

GhanaWeb has acquired a report that looked into the state of the Kumasi Central Market Phase 1, and which sort of exposes the ‘disregard’ of state authorities concerning some major findings about the market.

Prepared by Contracta, a group originating from Brazil, that has been operating in the civil engineering and infrastructure industries since 1996, the report, titled, “Kumasi Central Market Phase 1: Routine Inspection of Kumasi Market Phase 1 Operations,” looked at a complete and proper operation of the market.

Kejetia Market on fire:

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023, GhanaWeb reported that fire gutted the Kumasi Central Market, also known as the Kejetia Market.

The cause of the fire, which the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has since given, was due to a shop owner cooking in her shop.

Earlier sources, however, said that the fire started at Kejetia Dubai, where car tyres are sold.

A report by Joy News stated that a mother and baby collapsed due to the heavy smoke at the scene, with another woman jumping out of the building to save her life.

Findings of report on Kejetia Market:

While there have been several reasons given for the recent fire at the Kejetia Market (which is also the second time there has been a major fire there in recent times), the Contracta report said something that may be brought otherwise: “these issues stem from non-adherence to the operation and maintenance procedures.”

Additionally, there are a number of findings by Contracta that show that after its assessments of the market, a number of recommendations were made that, perhaps, were not attended to.

In the report, for instance, the contractor raised concerns about the difficulty that could pertain in the case of a future emergency.

“The definition of trading locations in the market was done with safety and commercial considerations in mind, especially in what regards the need for speedy evacuation in the case of an emergency. Currently the occupation of the market is not in line with the originally defined plans and in case of an emergency, the evacuation routes are not cleared of obstructions.”

In its suggested maintenance procedures, the contractor also reported that there was a major disregard for the operation and maintenance guidelines of the Kejetia Market.

The report stated that the licenses of key safety institutions, on the facility, had also expired and needed to be renewed.

“The recommendations and guidelines according to the Operation and Maintenance Manual (pages 30 and 31) handed over to the client at the conclusion of the project are not being carried out in their entirety, impairing the good functioning of the installed systems and reducing the useful life of the project.

“It is extremely important that all fire prevention, detection, control, and firefighting systems are kept in working order for safety reasons and in case they need to be used due to possible emergencies. It is also very important to mention that the EPA - Environment Protection Association, GNFS - Ghana National Fire Service and Factories and Inspectorates - Ghana Occupational Safety Agency licenses are expired and need to be renewed so that the market has all the necessary authorizations relevant to its operation.”

The report concluded that there were issues of misuse and others concerns that could undermine the longevity of the project.

It, therefore, recommended that expert hands are sent in to ensure that the running of the facility is done well.

“As presented above there are numerous issues that are related to misuse, lack of corrective maintenance and lack preventive maintenance. The most worrisome are the issues related to the fire fighting and fire suppression system that are not working as designed. In the case of fire severe consequences can arise that might cause loss of life. The other issues, although not life threatening, have the potential of reducing the life of the project and cause extreme damages to the image of all the entities involved on the process.

“It is therefore imperative that Market Management deploys a team for operation and maintenance that is qualified and fully knowledgeable of the procedures defined for the operation and management of the building,” it concluded.

So far, the Ghana National Fire Service is yet to present its final findings on what its assessment of the March 15 fire is.

See the full Contracta report below:



You can also watch this episode of People & Places here:



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